


Stupid plant wasn't worth it

by magznus



Series: TPP [1]
Category: The Penumbra Podcast
Genre: Angst, Asphyxiation, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Lizard Kissin' Tuesday (Penumbra Podcast), Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-20
Updated: 2020-02-20
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:13:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22808416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magznus/pseuds/magznus
Summary: It started as fluff, with a bit of angst just for flavorThere aren't enough Arum and Damien bonding fics out there
Relationships: Lord Arum/Sir Damien (Penumbra Podcast), Lord Arum/Sir Damien/Rilla (Penumbra Podcast)
Series: TPP [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1639732
Comments: 1
Kudos: 44





	Stupid plant wasn't worth it

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first Rad Buquet fic, but I'm pretty proud of it.

It felt like Damien had been walking for days. The map of the city ruins had lead them down into the catacombs, and Damien believed that they were currently under the town square or maybe the entrance to the castle, he wasn’t quite sure how far they had gone. They were surrounded by stone walls on either side, and the ceiling was only half a foot above Damien’s head.  
Glancing behind him Damien saw Arum bent over, his kneck twisted at an angle so that he could still see in front of him while not hitting his head on the ceiling. He looked uncomfortable but like he was trying to hide it in favor of not worrying Damien.  
Neither of them would have been there if it wasn’t for Rilla. She had found some book talking about a magic plant hidden deep in the ruins of an old city that no one knew about. She had spent weeks researching it before finding the map they were currently following. She had been more than willing to go looking for the plant herself, excited even, but the day before she was meant to leave she had twisted her ankle. Both Damien and Arum had promised that they would go in her place just as long as she promised to stay in bed and actually let her leg heal.  
They had been underground for less than an hour but Damien already beginning to feel stir crazy, and he knew that Arum had to be struggling as well.  
“How are you feeling my lily?” Damien asked as he looked back and slowed down just slightly.  
Arum paused and tilted his head slightly more so that he could look Damien in the eyes. “I’m...Quite cramped to be honest.”  
Damien turned around then, “Why don’t we take a break then?” He grabbed Arum’s hand and pulled him slightly closer before reaching up and grabbing his shoulders. Damien maneuvered both of them for a moment until they were both sitting on the ground with Arums back to himself.  
Arum followed along, staying quite no matter how confused he was. He had grown used to his human’s odd quirks and usually let them take the lead in moments such as this.  
Damien reached up and ran his hands over Arum’s shoulders. He pressed his fingers into his boyfriend’s kneck, straightening it out where it was still tilted slightly. He then began to press his fingers into the scally flesh along Arum’s shoulders. He found any tight knots and began to press into them, rubbing insistently until they disappeared. Damien worked his way down Arum’s back, kneading into his skin with expert fingers. He worked until Arum had become putty in his hands.  
“Is that better?” Damien asked with a smile, pausing for a moment.  
“Hmm?”Arum turned his head slightly to reveal eyes closed in pleasure. “Oh yes honeysuckle, it’s amazing.” he smiled “Where did you learn this?”  
“Ah well Rilla, she has a habit of hunching over her work for much too long, and it doesn’t have the most comfortable consequences.” While he talked Damien began kneading into Arum’s back again, this time near the base of his lower arms. “She always gets the worst knots in her kneck and this is the only thing that seems to help.”  
They stayed like that for a little while longer until Arum insisted that they continue on, it took them almost an hour to leave the long tunnel and find themselves in a large circular room. In the center of the room sat a pedestal and on top was a potted fern. It looked plain, a simple fern like the ones that grew along the river near the Citadel. But Damien knew better than to take anything that could be remotely magical lightly.  
Arum was the first to step forward fully into the room. The first step he made on to the cobbled floor was accompanied by an almost inaudible click and the next by the sound of something swinging at his head. Damien didn’t have a second to think before he was grabbing Arum and shoving him to the floor.  
They hit the ground just a cleaver swung down from the ceiling above them, cutting through the air right where Arum’s chest had been.  
“Maybe” Damien muttered quietly “We go a little slower?”  
Arum nodded in agreement before standing up slowly and pulling Damien with him. “What, honeysuckle, do you think we should do?”  
Damien looked around carefully, taking notice of the different levels of the cobbled stones, as well as the obvious traps inside the walls. “We should go around that side” He pointed to the right “Follow the wall and avoid the raised stones on the floor.”  
They walked carefully, Damien in front and Arum following carefully behind him, and made it to the other side of the room without incident. On this side, there seemed to be fewer traps between them and the plant.  
“All of this for some silly plant” Arum muttered under his breath “Amaryllis had better have a good reason for making us do this.” He turned to Damien “I’ll go and collect the plant, you wait here and guide me through it”  
He set off across the room, this time watching the floor carefully for the risen stones. As he drew closer to the Arum noticed a change in the air around him. With each step, it felt like it was becoming harder and harder to breathe. He looked back at Damien who seemed not to notice any change around them.  
Arum was only a few feet away from the pedestal that the plant sat on when everything went terribly wrong. The air seemed to be sucked out of his lungs all at once, and he grew incredibly cold. It wasn’t long before his legs gave out and black spots began to form in his vision.  
He tried to look away from the fern, to move back towards the wall and Damien but found that he didn’t have the control over his own body. He expected to hear Damiens cries to his saint at some point, a wail that Arum had become used to whenever it seemed the slightest struggles presented themselves. But they never came. The pain in his lungs, no longer filled with air, grew worse and worse with each second.  
Trying to move proved impossible as the last of Arum’s strength left him and he fell completely to the floor. His head turned finally away from the plant and back to where Damien stood. The knight looked to be struggling as well, and his mouth was moving but Arum could not hear a thing. The last thing he saw was Damien watching him helplessly.  
***  
Arum felt like he was floating, surrounded by a fog that blocked out anything else. He could not remember where he was or why he was there. His limbs felt heavy, and yet he floated weightlessly in the empty space.  
“..rum?...Arum can….Can you hear me?” A worried voice seeped through the fog. “Arum my lil…” He tried to grasp onto the voice, tried to follow it to the surface but his head felt like it had been filled with cotton and he couldn’t make out more than a few words.  
It felt like hours that he listened to the voice, trying to grab onto something solid before slipping back into the fog. When he finally began to come back to himself Arum found himself laying on the hard ground. There was uneven stone digging into his back but he was still too out of it to move. There was something warm and solid that his head was resting upon that he couldn’t quite place but it felt nice, almost comforting.  
Arum opened his eyes slowly, taking in his surroundings carefully. He was in the tunnel they had been in just before the room with the fern, a small fire had been lit a few feet away and filled the cramped space with a warm glow. There was a hand running itself over his head, scratching just slightly just how Damien and Rilla would when he got agitated. The hand was moving faster than usual and there was a slight tremor in the fingers.  
He looked up to find Damien sitting just behind him. Arum’s head was rested on the knight’s thigh that he guessed had to have fallen asleep long ago. Damien himself looked more anxious that Arum had ever seen him. His eyes were closed and his head was tipped toward the ceiling. He was muttering quickly under his breath, and when Arum strained he could hear that Damien was praying.  
“Goodmorning Honeysuckle.” Arum’s voice came out ragged and his throat burned slightly, but it didn’t matter when Damien’s eyes snapped open and his head dropped down to look at Arum.  
“Arum?” His voice was breathy and Arum could taste his relief in the air. “Oh, saint’s I was so worried! I had thought, well I was sure..You just looked to be in so much pain and I couldn’t get to you and when I did you weren’t breathing and you wouldn’t wake up!”  
Arum sighed, reaching up slowly and stroking Damien’s cheek to calm him down. “I’m alright honeysuckle. I promise.” His voice hurt the more he talked, and Damien immediately took notice.  
With Damien’s help, Arum sat up, though he was still too tired to do much more than lean against the wall as Damien began to go through his things looking for his flask of water and something for them to eat. Neither of them felt like trecking back through the ruins right away, and they ended up falling asleep in the small tunnel together.  
The next day they trecked out of the ruins and back to their swamp. It was much more exhausting than it had been the first time and took them twice as long. Rilla was sitting just outside the keep when they returned, a stubborn look in her eyes as she fiddled with what looked like crutches. There was a bag filled with medical supplies and food on her side.  
“Amarillis, what are you doing?” Arum made themselves know once they could see her.  
Rilla’s head shot up at his voice, and she imedietly looked ready to kill one of them.  
“Where the hell have you been!?” Her voice was shrill and filled with worry “You were only supposed to be gone a day, you should have been back before dinner! It’s been THREE!” She had stood and moved over to them as fast as she could on a twisted ankle.  
“Oh my Rilla, I’m so sorry, we will explain everything I promise.”  
“That damned plant” Arum cursed as he hugged Rilla to him. “Was not worth it.”  
Rilla looked up at him shocked, “Did you even get it?”


End file.
